Chrome OS 66 Arrives Ahead Of Google I/O

There’s a lot of buzz around the in-development Crostini Project for Chrome OS and the potential impact it could have on the entire Chromebook ecosystem. We’re really hoping that in just under two weeks, developers will give us some insight into the roadmap for Linux apps on Chrome OS as they gather for the annual Google I/O conference in California.

Until then, we still have a lot of new goodies to keep track of here at Chrome Unboxed and it looks like the list just got longer as Chrome OS version 66 has just been announced and with it a huge list of feature updates.

I’ll go ahead and share the update here and over the next couple of days we’ll be testing and tearing down all that’s new in the latest version of Chrome OS. Normally, major updates contain more bug fixes and security updates that actual new features but as you will see in the list below, there’s a truckload of stuff rolling out with this milestone update.

Adding new keyboard shortcut to move windows from display-to-display

New Chrome OS Keyboard Shortcut Helper

External Display Settings enhancements

Enable Video Recording in Chrome Camera App

Overview window animation improvements

Extending more devices support for Magic Tether

Picture in Picture Magnification

Ability to zoom up to 20x with Chrome OS magnifier

Ability to adjust full screen mag zoom level through pinch gesture

Screen sharing support for Android apps installed via the Google Play Store

The first one that caught my eye is the extended support for magic tether. What devices have been added is not clear but you can bet we’ll be testing it on every phone we can find. Presumably, this is a reference to the “Instant Tether” feature available for Pixel devices.

We also see a lot of features to Android app support that should give the Play Store apps a more native feel and better functionality on Chrome OS. Android on Chromebooks has come a long way but there’s definitely room for more improvement.

There’s also the new video recording function that Robby shared yesterday as well as a new Picture in Picture feature that we have been anticipating for months.

Along with the feature updates, Intel devices using the 3.18 kernel will now have the patch to protect against the Meltdown vulnerability. That means all Chrome OS devices on version 66 will now be immune to the nasty bug. Great news, indeed.

Stay tuned. We have a lot of stuff coming at you this weekend including more details on Chrome OS 66, some product highlights and more.

Thanks to Will Smith for the quick eye and sharing this update because we were busy playing with some new third-party Google Home speakers we just acquired. 🙂

About Gabriel Brangers

Lover of all things coffee. Foodie for life. Passionate drummer, hobby guitar player, Web designer and proud Army Veteran. I have come to drink coffee and tell the world of all things Chrome. "Whatever you do, Carpe the heck out of that Diem" - Roman poet, Horace. Slightly paraphrased.